C# SerialPort GetPortNames doesn't work on windows 10

Question

I'd made a simple program one or two years ago in windows 8 or windows 8.1 that provides serial port connection between Arduino Uno and my C# Form Application. Firstly I check all open com ports in pc and get these ports for connection choice. To do that working code is like given below for those days;

private void portCheck_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            foreach (string item in System.IO.Ports.SerialPort.GetPortNames())
            {
                //store the each retrieved available port names into the Listbox...    
                if (!portBox.Items.Contains(item))
                { portBox.Items.Add(item); }
            }
        }

I'm not opened this program for a long while and now I format my computer and make a clean install with windows 10 Education. And when I run this project I realize the program does not found any open com port. It does not enter the foreach loop, simply System.IO.Ports.SerialPort.GetPortNames() doesn't return any port name. I made some research and read about an issue like this situation in windows 10. And peoples gives completely different solutions about serial connections. I don't want to rewrite whole project. So is there anyone know anything about this problem? Is there any simple solution for that?

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 30 '16 at 16:10

Are you certain that the serial port itself is working correctly after the upgrade to Windows 10?

Does it appear in Device Manager?
Does it appear in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\SERIALCOMM (which is where SerialPort.GetPortNames() gets its information)?

Anecdotally, I maintain software that uses SerialPort.GetPortNames() to enumerate serial ports and it works fine on Windows 10.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 26 '17 at 19:36

This is an old thread but since it wasn't solved and since I just experienced this same issue on a new Win10 laptop, I thought I'd share my solution. I finally figured out that I had to download the VCP driver from Silicon Labs, and after I ran the x64 installer everything worked. I don't think I had to do this on my Win7 laptop so this is an inconvenience of Win10.

NikB · Answer 3 · 2020-06-06T09:47:50.550

Мy problem (Win10) is that when removing the device from the USB, the corresponding port does not disappear from the list (SerialPort.GetPortNames(), C#) And it's stay even in the registers. I see:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\SERIALCOMM]
"\\Device\\USBSER000"="COM11"
"\\Device\\USBSER002"="COM53"
"\\Device\\VCP0"="COM4"
"\\Device\\USBSER001"="COM11"

I understand when the problem occurs, but I do not understand how to bypass it: when I occupy the port and turn off the device from USB, the port name remains in the registers and in the list that Windows returns.

C# SerialPort GetPortNames doesn't work on windows 10

3 Answers3